I Like This
by MrJamesileee
Summary: (Kate Littlejohn/Anya Ooms) One-shot set during and immediately after the shooting range scene at the end of 1x06. Some scene extension, some drabble. Kate x Anya add ons and behind the scenes. First Kate and Anya fic of many.


_well i'm obsessed with this pairing. of course kate littlejohn is already one of my favourite fictional characters of time and anya just makes her...even better. please let me know what you think. i would love to connect with some other kate/for the people fans. i know it doesn't have a giant fanbase yet and i'm working to change that. enjoy and send me love or meh mail._

Well this was… new. And SO not how Kate had expected the evening to turn out.

Okay, so she'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about it.

A couple times.

More than she should have.

But that did NOT mean that this is where she expected to end up on an otherwise uneventful Monday evening.

In a gun range.

Making out with an ATF agent that she barely knew.

But whose fault was that? She had to remind herself that this was completely on her.

The 'barely knew' part, not the 'making out' part. Actually that was kind of on her, too.

Anya had been trying to make small talk for days. Not so much small talk as the 'getting to know you' part of any acquaintance. Friendship. Relationship. Kate had pushed her away at every turn.

Until she wasn't.

And she hadn't even realised it.

Somehow she'd gone from adamantly refusing to divulge any information about herself or stray at all from the mission at hand to offering up pieces of herself, waiting to watch each new expression that graced the agent's face as she took it all in. The way her eyes brightened. The small smile the pulled at her lips.

Kate did not intend to let her guard down. Not ever. She hadn't even realised that she had until she got that second phone call and found her heart racing before she had even answered.

"This is Kate Littlejohn."

"It's Anya Ooms with the ATF."

Kate found it amusing that they both stated their names as though they didn't know who would be on the line. It was part of the barrier that Kate had put up and that Anya was respectful enough not to plow over.

Yet.

They were so close. Kate could feel Anya's warm breath on her face and she couldn't fight the small, charged smile that twitched against her lips. There were little flecks of gold in the brown of Anya's eyes that Kate had never noticed before.

Because she had never been close enough to, she realised.

And panicked.

Her shock of nerves must have been more evident than she knew, as Anya stepped back slightly and looked instantly apologetic.

"Back it up. Rewind."

Kate smirked at seeing Anya anything but overly confident for the first time. Her vulnerability was showing at last and Kate liked it. A lot. Too much.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to put you in an uncomfortable position. We're going to be working together for years and-"

Kate didn't kiss girls very often. Kate didn't _like people_ very often, romantically or otherwise. That just wasn't how she was programmed. She wasn't stupid and she wasn't blind; she knew when she found someone attractive. But she also did not have the time or patience or nearly enough care to ever act on any sort of attraction or romantic feeling that she might have acknowledged.

This was not that.

Kate was kissing Anya before she had made a conscious decision to. Was it the woman's respect for her and the situation? Her vulnerability and honesty? That look in her eyes, as her gaze traveled Kate's features, seemingly in awe? She didn't know what had caused the rope to snap. But there was no going back now.

" _Look who's taking a break now."_

Kate grinned into the kiss as she heard Anya's words echo through her mind. Now _this_ was the kind of break she could get on board with.

"What's so funny?" Anya mumbled softly, barely pulling away from Kate's lips upon feeling the woman smile.

"Grrrmmm," Kate emitted something between a sigh and a grumble at the sudden lack of contact, causing Anya to laugh out loud.

Anya's hand rested on Kate's left hip as though it belonged there, as though it had taken purchase there many times before. Kate felt the weight of it, the heat, and her heart began to beat a bit too fast for her liking.

"Nothing's funny," Kate said curtly, stepping back and causing Anya's nerves to resurface.

"Oh, I- I thought you laughed," Anya looked away, brushing her brow with the back of her hand uncomfortably.

Anya's evident change in demeanor was unsettling to Kate. She didn't like that she could cause such a change in the woman just by reacting. She wondered if Anya even noticed. Kate stared at Anya's face as the woman tried to avoid her eyes but refused to remove the hand resting on Kate's hip. Kate could feel Anya's pulse thrumming in the fingertips that sat there.

She liked it.

"I did laugh," Kate admitted cautiously, hoping to cause Anya to look up into her eyes again.

She didn't.

It began to get awkward.

Anya waiting for Kate to elaborate as she nervously stared at cold grey floor.

Kate waiting for Anya to look up into her eyes so that she could elaborate.

This was uncomfortable.

"Anya," Kate said suddenly, startling them both.

"Hmm?" Anya asked, but when her eyes finally reached Kate's there was a smile lingering in her gaze.

"What?" Kate didn't have to ask what she meant.

"I've never heard you say my name before," Anya told her, shifting her weight from one foot to the either. Nearer to Kate. Farther away. Nearer. Farther.

"I've never said your name before," Kate told her.

"Why did you laugh?"

Kate's brain started at the abrupt change of subject. She didn't realise that Anya would revert to their previous conversation and she wasn't prepared for it. Anya was suddenly standing WAY too far away.

"Look who's taking a break now," Kate quoted her as an answer, gaining a look of confusion from the agent. "I was thinking about when you said that. And then we were kissing. And that was quite a break."

Anya smirked for a moment, staring at Kate's face in wonder and shifting closer once again before pausing abruptly, face freezing.

"But you don't like breaks," Anya stated, matter of fact, unable to hide the disappointment her face relayed.

"I—" There was that pulling fear again. Was that guilt? Kate HATED the looks of sadness she could cause Anya without even trying. Kate normally LOVED to see a look of intimidation cross someone's features at the sight of her.

This was not that.

"I didn't say I didn't LIKE breaks…" Kate tried to explain, finding herself becoming itchy and irritable. "Never mind," she shook her head, frustrated, and stepped out of Anya's arm span altogether.

"Look, like I said, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for…" Anya motioned her hands between them shakily, pacing slightly, "all THIS. We can just forget it, okay?" she said, though her expression and the disappointment in her eyes made it evident that she wanted anything BUT to forget it. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't," Kate spat out, mostly because she couldn't watch Anya look so anxious and pained and not do anything to stop it. She was developing a twitch. "I am uncomfortable, but you didn't make me uncomfortable," she admitted, leaning back onto the counter and trying to calm herself down. Trying to keep herself from approaching Anya, wrapping her arms around the woman and holding on for life.

"I shouldn't have pushed you. I don't know you that well but I should have known you well enough to know how it would turn out," Anya sighed out and Kate wasn't sure if she should take it as an insult or a compliment.

"I kissed you," Kate stated directly, as though reminding the agent.

"Only because I tried to kiss you first," Anya argued, stopping suddenly as a smirk grew on her face. "What a night, eh?" she chuckled, leaning on the counter too, not near enough to let her side brush Kate's as she wished she could. "Standing in a shooting range arguing over who kissed who," she mused, chancing a glance at Kate.

"I kissed you."

Because it hadn't been up for debate.

"I'm not good at taking breaks," Kate continued disjointedly, speaking before Anya could begin to pace again. "It's not that I don't like them. I just don't take them often so I'm not very good at it."

"Seemed good at it to me," Anya couldn't help but say, running with the metaphor, not unnoticed by Kate.

"Well I'm not," she corrected soundly, turning to face Anya and realizing that the woman was nearer than she thought. "I—I think too much. I can't not think. So even if I'm taking a break I'm thinking about whatever it is that I should be doing. When my brain actually shuts up long enough for it to be a break I feel unsettled," she told her, ending with a short sigh.

"Did your brain shut up?" Anya asked quietly, shifting a little closer, her shoulder barely coming in contact with Kate's upper arm.

Kate simply blinked at her in response. Of course her brain had shut up. Kissing Anya had pretty much taken her brain out of commission entirely. Admitting that seemed ill advised. Lying seemed worse.

"Yes."

"And you're not okay with that?" Anya asked, so quietly that Kate wouldn't have understood the question out of context.

This shit was difficult.

"I don't know how to answer that," Kate admitted.

"It's pretty simple," Anya said, though her tone suggested that she knew better. "Allowing yourself to be distracted scares you. I get that. But is the distraction worth the fear?" she asked, obviously unsure if she wanted the answer.

"I'm going to kiss you again now."

As accustomed to Kate's directness as Anya was becoming, that one had taken her off guard.

"Oh rea—"

Kate didn't kiss girl's often. She silently reminded herself to practice not throwing her mouth harshly into the other's in the future.

Anya was knocked slightly backwards by the momentum of Kate's second kiss but she definitely wasn't complaining. She had the counter holding her up and Kate's body pressed against her. Whatever apprehension their first kiss held began to slowly fade this time and Anya was glad for it.

Taking a break.

Was this taking a break FROM a break, Kate wondered. They hadn't exactly being doing work or anything else productive previously.

Anya opened her mouth cautiously, tongue brushing Kate's lip just barely. A test. Kate's mouth opened immediately, tongue meeting Anya's without hesitation.

That felt pretty productive, Kate decided.

Anya's hand had found it's way back to Kate's hip, where it belonged. The concrete physicality of it brought Kate's mind back to Earth for a moment and her first reaction was to tighten her own hand's grip on the hair at the base of Anya's skull.

The small whimper that the agent emitted in reaction shook Kate back to reality with a thud.

"Sorry."

Kate was out of Anya's grip and standing a foot away, staring at the ground with wide shaky eyes.

"Why?"

The question came out as more of a breathy chuckle and the sound sent a surge through Kate's blood.

"You made a sound."

"Is that a bad thing?" Anya asked softly, stepping forward and lowering her head to look at the woman.

"I—it sounded like—I didn't know if I pulled too hard. I didn't know that I pulled at all, honestly, and then you made that sound and—" Kate stammered as her mind reeled, anxiety and electricity fueling her.

"Hey," Anya nodded, stepping into Kate's space and touching her jaw softly, meeting her eyes. "I didn't make a sound because it _hurt_. That's for sure," she smirked, her voice raspier than usual, causing Kate's breath to catch.

"Oh."

Kate couldn't think of a more appropriate response. She couldn't think of a response at all. The way that Anya's intense gaze bore into her eyes felt like she was looking right into her, past the walls and the awkwardness. Kate liked walls. She liked rules and definitive lines.

This was not that.

"Do you want to maybe get out of here? Maybe you'll feel more comfortable if we're not in a cold shooting range," Anya suggested softly, brushing Kate's cheekbone and letting her know without words that she did not intend for this to be some hook up. That was not what she was implying. She sincerely cared about Kate's comfort. That only frightened Kate more.

"Being comfortable makes me uncomfortable."

The statement was so direct and honest that it brought a smile to Anya's face despite the overwhelmed look in Kate's eyes.

"Okay," Anya nodded, knowing Kate well enough for that to make perfect sense. "Do you need me to leave you alone then? Do you need space to like, overanalyse all this?" she asked with no malice in her voice.

Kate's eyebrows twitched up in awe of the woman before her. Kate didn't kiss girls often but she might have to make an exception. The thrumming of her heart switched from an anxious hammer to a quick flutter.

Instead of answering, Kate smiled.

A real smile. Genuine. Care-free. Whole.

She wanted to kiss Anya again. She wanted to go on sting operations and learn agent terminology and stop for lunch breaks and kiss breaks and count the gold flecks. She couldn't stop smiling.

"So… you _don't_ want me to leave you alone?" Anya gathered, smiling at the look of peace that had fallen across Kate's features. She'd never seen that look before.

"No," Kate shook her head soundly. "I mean, I will definitely overanalyse all of this later but it can wait," she grinned.

Anya leaned up, lips meeting Kate's gently. Her fingers splayed across Kate's hip and she felt the woman ease into the touch. They kissed slowly but not carefully, taking each other in and reveling in the exploration.

"Anya?" Kate whispered, feeling the word on her tongue, actually listening to how it sounded coming from her voice for the first time.

"Yeah?" she asked, smiling, eyes closed, at the sound of it.

"I'd like to shoot the gun again now."

Anya smiled widely, opening her eyes to find Kate looking at her sincerely.

"Okay. I'll teach you how to load it."


End file.
